BT to bring ADSL2+ to 80% of UK homes

BT Wholesale (NYSE: BT) plans to enable more of its telephone exchanges with ADSL2+ to serve about 80 percent of UK homes and businesses by the end of this year.

Currently available in over 1,017 exchanges, BT's Wholesale Broadband Connect (WBC) ADSL2+ service, which it has offered since 2005, offers speeds up to 20 Mbps and serves 15.5 million premises.

Over 2.25 million users subscribe to the WBC service with 30,000 additional lines being added every week. Given the distance limitations of copper-based DSL and varying home wiring conditions, BT WBC customers typically actually get an average of 6.2 Mbps, according to UK telecom regulator Ofcom.

Along with ADSL2+, BT Wholesale is also expanding the reach of its copper and fiber-based Ethernet services. Having deployed 1,000 live fiber Ethernet nodes in the UK, BT claims have the largest copper and fiber-ready network to deliver Ethernet. By the end of 2011, BT plans to reach 1,090 fiber nodes.

Beyond ADSL2+, BT Wholesale's up to 40 Mbps Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) service is currently available to four million homes and businesses. The service provider says it's on track to deliver the FTTC service to two-thirds of UK homes by the end of 2015.

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